habits Archives - UC Grace Blog

What an excellent time we have had on Purbeck Venture 2022, it has been great watching you amazing campers step forward to give your lives to Jesus or recommit your lives. Don’t we have a great God! The transition from camp to home can be hard for you, so we thought we’d share a quick post about setting useful habits as a young Christian, as well as useful apps and YouTube channels for young people. Giving you ways you can keep your fire going once you are at home.

Sunrise at Purbeck venture where we share creating habits as a young Christian — Camp Dawn – Purbeck Venture 2022

Sometimes it can feel like you are in a bubble at camp and when you get home, camp blues set in – they’re a real thing honestly! Here are a few habits as a young Christian that can help you to keep going and establish a routine.

Pick a favourite verse from camp, write it out and place it somewhere visible as a reminder of what you experienced and to keep a conversation going with God.
Tell someone what you experienced, talk them about your highs and your lows, bring others into the adventure that you had.
Connect with those that you made friends with. Maybe set a time that you can get together and check in with each other. This could be on an online call or in-person.
Keep talking to God. Find one place in your day where you can say hello and what you are feeling.
Find a church or youth group that can support you to help you to grow deeper. If you’re not sure how to do this chat with a leader and they can try and signpost you.

Don’t put pressure on yourself to do your walk with God like your friend. God made you unique your walk with God will be unique. Focus on what you can do and not what others are doing. Creating habits as a young Christian will be hard work. Don’t do everything all at once, pick on thing and create a habit with that.

Below you will find some other useful things that will help you create habits as a young Christian. It may take a while for you to settle on what works best. So don’t be afraid to try different ones until you are happy.

Useful Apps (available on IOS and Android)

Lectio 365 for families – This is an app that you can do alongside your family or on your own. Offering you a chance to do a daily devotional reading God’s word and explore prayer. Find out more and download here.
YouVersion Bible App – This is a fantastic resource to have in your phone. As it has the whole Bible at your fingers tips and you can download different versions. There is also the option to follow friends and do devotionals alongside friends too. There’s useful videos to watch and thoughts for the day. Find out more and download here.
Dwell App – Is great if you might be time poor, you can choose to listen to God’s word, explore key passages and hear meditative music over the top too. It has a free trial, but then a fee payable monthly. Find out more and download here.
Pause App – This app is based on the One Minute Pause section of the book ‘Get Your Life Back’ and ‘Resilient’ by John Eldredge. It invites you into a simple practice of releasing everything to God , restoring your union with God, and inviting him to fill you. You can find out more and download here.
Bible in One Year – Created by Nicky Gumbel. This app offers you a structure to read the Bible in a year, talking you through it step by step. Also available as a podcast, email, or book. Find out more and download here.
Glorify App – Learn ways to cultivate a daily worship habit with a daily passage, reflection and prayer. Find out more and download here.

Useful YouTube channels

The Bible Applied – The Bible Applied chooses a book of the Bible and just goes through it. Each video will take a bit at a time giving you time and space to learn at your own pace.
Soul Survivor – Talks, worship and teaching from Mike Pilavachi and the team. An excellent channel to follow.
24-7 Prayer – Is an international Christian movement of prayer, mission and justice.
The Bible Project – Fantastic resource of videos that explain history and setting of chapters and provide excellent overviews of books to help give you a solid understanding of the Bible.
The Way – Great place to discover questions you’re struggling with, creating habits and talks to listen to.

As you start (or continue) this journey we will be praying for you. God loves a party in heaven, let him be your guide.

‘The Lord will FIGHT for you; You need only to be STILL’
Exodus 14.14

Keep in touch with Purbeck Venture on our Facebook page here. Or pop us an email to let us know how your journey is going, we would love to know!

Written by Anna Gilderson, Co-Chaplain on Purbeck Venture 2022. Anna also runs UC Grace which is Christian dance and movement company. You can read a bit more about that here.

As I was thinking through how to share about today’s topic, I was aware that we all come from varying backgrounds. We have all learnt or been taught in different ways, and various aspects about prayer will speak differently to each person. We all love Jesus, which in turn means we love His word. In His word it tells us simply how we should pray. It is our human nature that stops us from doing it so simply! During this blog post I want to encourage you with how you are already experiencing prayer. But if you feel like you are stuck in a rut hopefully these thoughts will help you to realise how prayer becomes a habit in a way that’s unique to you!

Let’s begin by looking straight at Gods word –

“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,’”
Matthew 6.9

One very restless night this week when my mind wouldn’t settle and I just couldn’t get to sleep I started to think about this verse. Particularly the phrase ‘Our Father’. What a clear statement it makes before leading into the Lords prayer, about how we should be ready. It’s doesn’t say that for prayer to become a habit you need to gather this, do this, say this etc. It simply says ‘Our Father’. Or, come Father come. This was the bit that sat in my head that night I wasn’t sleeping. When I was asking God, how do I share about when prayer becomes a habit. Is prayer a habit of mine? The answer was ‘yes, because you welcome me.’

Heart shape on floor with ribbons. Person praying.

Say His Name

Think about those times when you’ve needed your mother, father, or someone else close to you. What have you done to speak to them? You’ve called them by name and then shared with them what you wanted to.

Prayer isn’t some fancy thing that has to be done in a specific way. It’s a normal way of creating a conversation with someone, that someone just happens to be God. You don’t have to put a wall in between, remember the veil was torn down so now we can just talk to God. Our conversations allow us the opportunity for us to give our time to him. But often we have this preconceived idea that prayer has to be set up in a specific way for us to access it.

The reality is just about saying.

Our father.

Our father we welcome you into what’s happening right now.

Our father please help me right now.

Our father I give you praise for everything that has happened today, thank you.

Whilst it might seem a dramatic thing and a really hard thing to say that you can create habit from prayer. But if think of all the things that you do without thinking they are habits. Think about when you recall lyrics from worship songs, when you recall scripture, when you recall conversations with friends. They’re all things that have imprinted on your memory. Then just remember how you go about your life and you share your faith. That is a habit, it might not be a habit like we think habits are. But actually when prayer becomes a habit, it’s the ability for it to be a natural part of your day to day life. It’s the natural conversation between you and God it’s the chance just to say hello and welcome God into what’s happening.

The River of Peace. Blue material along floor inviting you to rest and pray.

So my biggest thing that I wanted to share with you about when prayer becomes a habit is…

When prayer becomes a habit you feel at peace. Peace because it isn’t something that you’re striving to do that’s unnatural, it’s something that’s natural to you so it doesn’t have to be set aside at specific times in the day. There’s a place for that don’t get me wrong, but actually the ability for prayer to become a habit involves us having the openness to allow God into every part of our lives. To share that throughout the day acknowledging him in those things as we go.

Not convinced that prayer is a habit for you? Try saying ‘Our Father’, or ‘Come, Father Come’, as you go about your day-to-day activities. Or when you hit those hard points in the day. You don’t have to say anything more. Just those two or three words!

These other posts might prove useful exploring prayer and everyday life:

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Tag: habits

How to create habits as a young Christian